I called the Washington office of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to briefly comment on a nominee for a federal commission. A young woman answered the phone. I introduced myself, explained my business and concluded my introduction by asking, "How are you today?"

"I'm very busy," she replied. "What do you want exactly?"

One conclusion might be that this young woman has never had the advantage of training in one of your better charm schools. The probable explanation for her insolent behavior is that she learned it from the senator and other "public servants" around her in the office.

In my profession, I have the occasion to talk to many people every day. These are ordinary citizens of our republic. They toil for a living. They rear their children, pay taxes and generally take seriously their personal, business and civic responsibilities. What they almost all tell me, when the topic of conversation turns to politics, is that they feel like the government ignores them. This is true for every level of government - local, state, national - and all agencies, commissions, bureaus and departments.

The government, or more properly, the people who populate government offices, are introspective and exclusive. Government workers and elected officials really don't care to hear from taxpayers if they can help it - like my young woman in Sen. Hutchison's office: "I'm very busy. What do you want?"

Perhaps this fundamental problem has ever been thus. The American humorist, Will Rogers, said almost 80 years ago, "We have the best Congress money can buy." Of course, his point was that Congress - and by implication state legislatures, county courthouses and city halls - listen to and respond to those who have the money to buy access.

The right of every citizen of this republic to be heard is essential in order to maintain the sense of ownership in the democracy. Lately, people don't think they are being heard by government. Worse, they think they have no chance of being heard. The ultimate result is a conviction that participation in civic affairs is a waste of time. Alas, consider our poor voter turnout on Election Day.

What happened to town hall meetings, where the elected official must sit there and answer whatever questions her constituents may ask her? What happened to the open-door policy, where citizens could get to know an officeholder in person?

Perhaps it is true, as my wife opines, that I have seen and taken to heart too many Jimmy Stewart movies depicting American life in the 1930s.

Permit me to suggest that I am mad as hell about not being heard. Some of the rest of us would do well, for ourselves and our posterity, to demand in polite but firm tones that government, in all of its forms and shapes, listen to us when we speak with intelligent suggestions of ways we can be a stronger, more courageous, more democratic nation.